How long does copyright/protection last?

Copyright on a work is valid from the time of the work's creation until 70 years after the author's death.

A work may have multiple authors for copyright purposes, for example the person who wrote the text, along with the translator and illustrator. The term of protection is then calculated on the basis of the year of death of the last contributor to die. The term of protection is also 70 years for anonymous works, but in this case the term applies from the year of the work's publication instead.

Put simply, you can assume that a work created by a person who lives for 90 years will be completely free to copy 150 years later at the earliest, assuming that the person was 10 or older at the time the work was created. Once the term of protection has lapsed, the work may be used freely and you may, for example, copy it without restriction, both in hard copy and in electronic form. When it comes to photographic images, the National Library has taken the decision of principle to consider all graphic images as works with a 70-year term of protection.